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Auto alternatives for the 21st centuryTue, 31 Mar 2015 14:25:22 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.9.2Akerson: GM Will Slash Price, Weight, For Next-Gen Chevy Volthttp://www.hybridcars.com/akerson-gm-will-slash-price-weight-for-next-gen-chevy-volt/
http://www.hybridcars.com/akerson-gm-will-slash-price-weight-for-next-gen-chevy-volt/#commentsThu, 02 May 2013 13:47:26 +0000http://www.hybridcars.com/?p=58067This week General Motors CEO Dan Akerson said when it’s launched, the revised new Chevrolet Volt will cost less and shed weight. “This next generation, we think we can decrease the price on the order of $7,000 to $10,000,” said Akerson speaking at Fortune’s Brainstorm Green conference in Laguna Niguel, Calif. Previous statements by people […]

]]>This week General Motors CEO Dan Akerson said when it’s launched, the revised new Chevrolet Volt will cost less and shed weight.

“This next generation, we think we can decrease the price on the order of $7,000 to $10,000,” said Akerson speaking at Fortune’s Brainstorm Green conference in Laguna Niguel, Calif.

Previous statements by people at GM have been that GM can cut $10,000 or more on its build costs, but Akerson said “price” suggesting GM will pass onto the consumer savings it has found.

GM has already collected a laundry list of awards for its “extended-range electric” car capable of driving 38 miles on electricity alone, but Akerson confirmed also that the over-engineereed, low-volume plug-in vehicle costs too much to build.

“This car, on a technology scale, is off the charts versus what you [have] seen,” said Akerson who owns a Volt himself. “We’ve sold about 26,500 of them,” he added, saying customers have become diehard fans and the technology is safe, but, “We’re losing money on every one.”

Left un-said are numerous details including the actual weight to be shed from the presently 3,750-pound or so vehicle, the next-generation Volt’s electric range, launch date, and more.

Nissan has already dropped the price of its all-electric Leaf and belief among many is GM does indeed need to follow Nissan’s lead.

But when will it do what ever it is going to do?

The 2014 model year Volt due to be switched over to at GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant in a couple months or so may not see the next-generation changes, and this too, Akerson did not state.

However despite some criticism GM has faced even among the Volt faithful that the company is resting on laurels following its launch and staged global roll out of its “moonshot” Volt halo car, Akerson said GM is resoundingly dedicated to this and other cars engineered “from the ground up” to be more fuel efficient.

Proof, Akerson said, that GM is still dedicated to the Voltec technology is that it chose to put it also into the pending Cadillac ELR.

“We took a gamble, and we put the same technology in the Cadillac,” he said.

He did not say if or when any down-market Voltec variants might be coming along, however.